Button-setting machine.



G.- WOOSTER. BUTTON SETTING MAUHINB. APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 27, 1902.

Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

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1n: uonms PETERS co., WASHINGTON. B4 c UNITED STATES PATENT oEEIoE.

CLARENCE WOOSTER, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO RICHMOND BROTHERS COMPANY, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

BUTTON-SETTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5,1909.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE WOOSTER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Button-Setting Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in button-setting machines which attach buttons to garments with tubular fasteners, and the invention consists of a button-setting machine comprising the mechanism which is hereinafter described and claimed, and which includes a peculiar button-holder.

The invention relates especially to machines which comprise a vertically movable plunger, to the lower end of which is attached a pointed punch or bodkin which is driven downward through the buttons, and thence through the garments resting on a table, and on which the tubular fasteners are upset within the buttons by being curled against a die-at the base of the bodkin. If the button-holder of such machines retains the buttons after they have been attached to the garments, then time is required to withdraw each button from the holder before another can be fed into it. If the button-holder does not so retain the buttons, then trouble is often caused b a button whose fastener has been made tlght on the bodkin, so that the button is carried above the button-holder with the upward movement of the plunger, and the button and garment interfere with the proper action of the holder and with the descent of the next button into the holder. The object of this invention is to render a button-holder, from which the buttons are forced by the plunger of the machine, capable of stripping buttons from the bodkin, so that after a button has been attached to a garment it will remain below the holder where it will not affect the action of the holder, or the descent of the next button, or the movement of the garment in any direction.

On the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a fragment of a button-setting machine, embodying the invention; Fig. 2, a side elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. l,viewed in the direction indicated by the arrow at the left of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a sectional plan of the button-holder on and below the plane at, m, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4, a front elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, illustrating the action of the button-holder on a button attached to a garment.

Similar reference-munerals designate like parts in different views.

The guide in which the plunger travels is formed in the frame 1 of the machine. The plunger 2, next to the bodkin 3, is smaller in diameter than the heads of the buttons. The table comprises two plates 4 which are normally held together as shown, but which are separable by the tool which carries the fasteners up through the table and drives them through the garments into the buttons and against the clenching-die. When the plates 4 are cl0se together there is a small round hole in the table directly under the bodkln, the hole being a little larger than the bodkin in diameter. The buttons are commonly fed into the button-holder from a chute 5, connected at its upper end with a button-hopper.

The button-holder is attached to the frame 1 on the side opposite to that on which the chute 5 is located. It comprises a pair of plates 6, which are normally held close together, or nearly so, and in which is a recess 7, formed partly in one plate and partly in the other. This recess is a little larger at the top than the flanges of any buttons that are to be fed into the holder, and a little larger at the bottom than the hubs of the buttons. lts margin preferably includes upper and lower surfaces 8 and 9, beveled slightly to render the plates separable by pressure exerted by the plunger on a button supported by its flange on one of those surfaces. By this means the holder is rendered operative on buttons of two sizes, such for example as suspender and fly-buttons. But obviously there might be a single beveled surface, instead of the two surfaces 8 and 9, if a holder was required for buttons of one size only. The plates 6 are supported between the table and the guide in which the plunger travels, the distance between the plates and the top of the table being not greater than the length of the bodkin. These plates are tightly fixed on the lower ends of vertical rods 10, which extend through a block 11, and on the upper ends of these rods are fixed caps 12 which bear on the top of the block, in which block the rods are free to turn. The block is fastened by suitable means, such for example as screws 13, to the frame 1. In this block is a pin 14, which supports a spring having branches 15 that extend between pins 16 fixed in the caps 12, and that tend to force these pins from each other and consequently to hold the plates 6 together as they are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. If the plates 6 are separated far enough to allow a button to pass through the recess 7, the spring yields under the force exerted on it through the rods 10 caps 12 and pins 16, the plates turning on the axes of the rods 10, and when the plates are free to return to their normal positions they are restored thereto by the action of the spring.

Although both the plates 6 might be mounted on one rod or pin and made to turn on a single axis, yet a holder constructed as described is preferable to one of the character suggested, because it is smaller and cheaper and less liable to cause trouble than a holder of such a character, that is equally as strong.

A button 17 fed into the holder is held in the recess 7, as appears by dotted lines in Fig. 1, under the plunger 2, the hole in the button being directly under the bodkin. The garment 18 is laid on the table. With the descent of the plunger the bodkin passes through the hole in the button, and after the point of the bodkin has penetrated the garment the button is forced from the holder by the plunger, or base of the bodkin, the plates 6 being separated as described, and the button falls on the garment where it is properly held by the bodkin. The downward move ment of the plunger continues until the bodkin has entered the round hole in the table, and preferably until it has passed through the table, after which a fastener is carried up through the table by the tool 19, which coacts with the plunger, bodkin and die in attaching the button to the garment with the fastener.

As soon as the button passes below the button-holder, the plates 6 are moved towards each other by the spring until they touch the plunger, when they are no longer far enough apart to allow the button to pass above them as the plunger ascends. Consequently if the button is carried upward by the bodkin, as it will be when the fastener tightly binds the bodkin, then the button will be stripped from the bodkin by contact with the plates 6 and the garment and button will fall upon the table, while the plates 6 will be restored to their normal positions immediately after the plunger is withdrawn from between them. During that part of the upward movement of the plunger with which the bodkinv is carried from the button-holder to its highest position, another button is released by the cut-ofi on the button-chute, and this button meets no obstruction as it'descends' into the button-holder.

It will be observed that the strain imposed on the holder by the pressure of the plunger is taken by the plates 6 rods 10 and caps 12, and that the strain to which the holder is subjected in stripping the buttons from the bodkin is taken by the plates 6and' rods 10, and that the length of the rods 10 and the strength of the construction in other respects well adapts the holder to withstand these strains.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a button-setting. machine the combination with a plunger, a bodkin projecting from the plunger, and a clenching-die at the base of the bodkin, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the clenching-die than are the heads of the buttons, of a device constituting both a button-holder and means for stripping buttons from the bodkin, said device comprising a button-support combined with means for moving said button-support over the but-tons after they leave the holder and before the plunger returns to its normal position.

2. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder to hold the buttons in the path of the plunger, said holder comprising a pair of pivoted plates to coact with the plunger in stripping buttons from the bodkin, substantially as described.

3. In a button-setting machine the combination with. a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a buttonholder comprising a pair of plates to coact with the plunger in stripping buttons from the bodkin, each plate being movable from and towards the other on a vertical axis, substantially as described.

1. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising: a pair of-plates to coact' with the plunger in stripping buttons from the bodkin, each plate being movable from the other on a vertical axis by the action of the plunger on a button in the holder; and mechanism including a spring to move the plates towards each other; substantially as described.

5. In a buttonrsetting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin'at the lower end thereof, the plunger being'smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than. are. the

heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising a pair of plates containing a button-holding recess, each plate being movable from and towards the other, and'said plates constituting means to coact with the plunger in stripping buttons from the bodkin, substantially as described.

6. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising: a pair of plates containing a button-holding recess; vertical rods to which the plates are attached, and with which the plates are movable on the axes of the rods; bearings in which the rods are secured; and means to turn the rods in the bearings in opposite directions; substantially as described.

7. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising: a pair of plates containing a button-holding recess; vertical rods to which the plates are attached, and with which the plates are movable on the axes of the rods;

bearings in which the rods are secured; and i a spring acting on the rods and tending to turn them in the bearings; substantially as described.

8. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising: a pair of plates containing a button-holding recess; vertical rods to which the plates are attached and with which the plates are movable on the axes of the rods; a block through which the rods extend, the block being secured to the frame; caps on the rods bearing against the block; and a spring acting on the rods and tending to turn them in the block; substantially as described.

9. In a button-setting machine the combination with a plunger, and a bodkin at the lower end thereof, the plunger being smaller in diameter next to the bodkin than are the heads of the buttons, of a button-holder comprising: a pair of plates 6 containing a button-holding recess; vertical rods 10 to whose lower ends the plates are attached; a block 11 through which the rods extend, the block being secured to the frame; caps 12 on the upper ends of the rods; pins projecting from the caps; and a spring acting on the pins; substantially as described.

CLARENCE WOOSTER.

In presence of CHAS. B. DUNoAn, EDWARD L. DUNCAN. 

